Desiccator



Jan. 8, 192 H, w. Meier-:N215 2,581,684

nEsIccAToR Filed June 9, 1947 Al o 0 0 BQOd noo n.00

oooool 0000000 emv/MM ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 8, 1952 .if if UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIcE,

Herbert W.McKenzie, Temple City, Calif., as-

signorto Western Sales Agency Corporation,

Arcadia, Calif., a corporation of California Application June 9, 1947,'Ser-ial No. 753,533

This invention relates to a method of and means for adsorbing moisture from the air, and particularly to a container for efficiently utilizing and applying a desiccating material, desiccant, or

adsorbent. v

Desiccants have been used in various ways for adsorbing moisture or liquids from air or other gases,V particularly in chemical processes. The present invention is directed to a particularly convenient and eiiicient method of and means for drying air in a closed space, such as rooms, clothes closets, trunks, chests, drawers, cabinets, vaults, or the like, to obtain and maintain a low humidity condition within the space. It is especially suitable for use in the spaces just mentioned when containing clothes, guns, photographic equipment, or any other items which are subject to deterioration by rust or mildew when the. humidity is high. It may also be placed in food cabinets to maintain a low humidity for keeping certain foods, such as crackers and the like, in their original crisp condition. v

The invention includes a container which is so constructed and proportioned as to obtain the maximum efficiency from the desiccant used therein. The container aids in prolonging the life of the desiccant in permitting the desiccant to adsorb 40% of its own weight in moisture under certain conditions and in permitting it to be renewed simply by placing it in a drying atmosphere, such as a hot oven. The container may be economically and quickly constructed and lled with the desiccant.

The principal object of the invention, therefore, is to facilitate the drying of air. Y

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method of and means for increasing the efliciency of utilization of a desiccant.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved container for a desiccant.

vA still further object of the invention is to provide a desiccant container of dimensions lsuch as to obtain optimum efficiency in the eifectiveness of the desiccant and which may be easily filled and hung or supported in the area to be dried.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this invention will be pointed out with particularity in the appended claim, the manner of its organization and the mode of its operation will be better understood by referring to the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

' Fig. 2 is a plan view of the invention; v Y Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional, side View taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional, end view taken along the line 4 4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional, plan view taken along the line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 6y is an elevational View of a modication of the hook for the container of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings, in which the same numerals identify like elements,'the container is made of two principal sections 5 and 6 formed in the shape of Us to provide the walls and side edges of the container. The edges of the sections 5 and .6 are attached, preferably, by spot welding, as shown at 8. The material of the sections 5 and 6 may be of any-suitable material, such as wire mesh, a heat resistant plastic, iron, or aluminum with a high heat resistant aluminum coating sprayed, dipped, or baked thereon. A. one-quarter inch rod I may be welded or otherwise attached at the center of the container to provide additional stiffness and prevent any expansion of the sides.

The bottom of the container is formed of a U- shaped channel I2 which may be welded to the respective sides of the sections and 6, as shown at I3 in Fig. 3, while two curved end sections I6 and I1 close the end portions of the bottom. The

top of the container is. closed similarly to the` bottom with a U-shaped member having end sections 2| and 22.

The upper end closing member 20 has welded, on the underside thereof at 24, a strip of spring metal 25, the end of which rests under an opening 26. 'I'he container may thus be lled through the opening 2S simply by bending the strip 25 downwardly, as shown by the dotted lines 28, after which the strip returns to its normal position to close the opening 26. Other means of closing the opening 26 may also be used, such as a pressed-on friction cap. A plurality of small holes 30 are punched in the sections 5 and 6 to provide ingress and egress of air to the desiccant shown at 3|. This desiccant may be of any commercial type, but preferably, it is Desiccite No. .25, which has been found to adsorb of its own weight in moisture under certain conditions, and is capable of regeneration by drying. It is to be noted that the lower group of holes 3l] do not extend to the bottom of the container which provides a tight container to prevent the loss of particles of the desiccant smaller than the holes.

In the center of the curved portions at the top of the container, small holes, such as shown at 35, may be punched to accommodate a handle, such as shown at 31. One end of the handle may be readily removed from its hole, and the handle put over a clothes closet pole and then the end of the handle returned to its supporting hole. Another means of supporting the container is ,shown in Fig. 6, which vis""simply'a hook 38-1havin'g alowersmall lcurved portion 39 which may be inserted through a pair of slots 4| in the top section 20, while the upper curved section 42 may be placed over a clothes closet supporting pole or hook.

It has been found that when using the labovenamed commercial desiccant,whi'ch is vmade `up of particles substantially three-sixteenths vo'f'an inch in diameter and three-sixteenths Vof -an inch long, the container should have dimensions of substantially one and three-quarters "ofan inch thick, fourteen inches high, and ten inches wide (11%" .x '14" 1x 10"). 'These dimensions'have beenifound v'to be optimum tolobtain the maximum in ecient drying of'ther'surrounding rat mosphere vas they permit all'of vthe kdeslccantto function while keeping the isize of lthe container within practical limits.

'Ihe container is pleasing in appearance and the vrounded side edges make it convenient to handle. In a container of `the size described, about seven pounds of the desiccant is fused. The desiccant is effective -for approximately thirty Idays in air of normal humidity'when placed Ain la normal sized closet, chest, or similar sized closed space. At the end of this period, or sooner, if required, due to-extremely'high humidities lor too frequent "exposures of the space vto the outside atmosphere, the entire container `with the desiccant may be placed -in the oven and dried; thus, bringing it 'back Vto its original -iinfabutting "relation to form joints extending theh "fullheight of the'wall body, said wall body having a lmultiplicity of apertures therethrough intermediate ithetop and bottom ends, a wall member .fixed horizontally in the top and bottom"respectively of said wall body, each of said wall members having lvertical anges on its longitudinal *sides secured'to the body, the top lwall memberibeing'provided witha lling opening, Ianclfa cover member resiliently biased `to cover said lling opening. l l HERBERT W. MCKENZIE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le 4of Athis patent:

UNITED -STA'IES E.PATENTS Number Name Date 628,657 .Giord July :11,118.99 '901,388 Schulze f- Ofctf20, 19118 1,191,629 tlarner July 18,1916 31,7371532 Allen Nov. .26., 1929 1,863,511 'Travis v June ,14, 1932 AHeitger July 131, 1934 

